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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Everyone knows the childrens story The Little Engine that Could. Well, Georgie had the "Little Tooth that Could." It kept saying, "I think I can stay, I think I can stay..." FINALLY yesterday while eating a fruit roll-up snack at school it came out. Seriously, this top front tooth has been loose for 3 months now (barely hanging on for almost two weeks).

I took this picture over a week ago, and I thought for sure it was coming out that day....WRONG!

Here she is proudly showing off her snaggle tooth smile. She sounds a little like Cindy Brady now...HA!

Friday, August 19, 2011

I've had so many questions and e-mails regarding the school supply cake I made for Georgia Anne's teacher that I decided a tutorial was in order so you can make one yourself!

Back-to-school is the best time to purchase the supplies since you can get really good deals on most of the items needed. I purchased all of the items I used in this cake at my local Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if the prices were sale prices or regular prices, but I made this one for about $23.00 (that includes all the supplies needed except hot glue gun, glue sticks and rubber cement which I already had on hand). The crayons were .19 each, glue was .34 each, 2-pack of glue sticks were .40 each, and the spiral notebooks were .20 each. So you can see the basic supplies are not that expensive. The ribbon is what I spent the most on and this is where you could save money if you already have some on hand.

Supplies Needed:

(1) Roll of Paper Towels

(1) 10" diameter cardboard circle (I used a cake base)

(1) 12"x12" piece of scrapbook paper

(5) large rubber bands

(7) 24 count Crayons

(6) 1-Subject Spiral Bound Notebooks

(10) Bottles School Glue

(20) Small Glue Sticks

(3) Gerber Daisey Silk Flowers

(24) No.2 Pencils

(1) Small Pencil Holder or cup with straight sides (see the instructions for an free alternative)

Ribbon of Varying Widths and Colors

Packing, Duck or Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue Sticks

Rubber Cement

**Note: The size of your paper towel roll and pencil holder could alter the number of supplies needed.

1.) Cut your 10" circle from a thick piece of cardboard. You can also use a cake base, which is what I did.

2.) Trace around the circle on your scrapbook paper and cut out.

3.) Glue paper to cardboard circle with rubber cement. Set aside.

4.) Start with your paper towel roll and place one of the spiral bound notebooks and one rubber band around it to hold it in place.

5.) Next, place the spiral bound notebooks behind the rubber band one notebook at a time. Overlap them as you go until you reach the starting point. Once you have them in place you can adjust the spacing.

6.) Add one more rubber band to the notebooks.

7.) To secure the notebooks better, tie a piece of ribbon tightly around the notebooks (This ribbon will not show when the cake is completed so you can use whatever you have on hand).

8.) Starting at the base place a pack of crayons and a rubber band around the notebook/paper towel center.

9.) Begin adding packs of crayons one at a time until reaching the starting point.

10.) Place a glue stick between each pack of crayons.

11.) Using the tops of the crayon boxes as your base, place a bottle of glue and a rubber band around the notebook/paper towel center.

12.) Add one bottle of glue at a time until you reach the starting point.

13.) Now at this point if you have a cup or pencil holder you will need it for this next step. I didn't want to have to purchase one so I'll share with you what I used instead. I found spare bolt of fabric in my closet and used the cardboard center roll to make my own pencil holder. Free is always better than spending more money!

14.) I used the glue sticks to determine the length of the roll. I then cut it slightly smaller than the height of the glue sticks. 15.) Next I traced around a scrap piece of cardboard to make the base for the pencil holder.

16.) Cut the circle out and secure it to the roll using your glue gun.

17.) Start with a glue stick and secure it with a rubber band to the pencil holder (I actually doubled the rubber band here so it would be more secure).

18.) Continue with the glue sticks until the pencil holder is covered.

19.) Take the pencil holder/glue stick section and secure it to the top of the paper towel roll. (I used hot glue because I was afraid it would not be as secure with tape.)

20.) Roll pieces of tape and place on the top of the cardboard circle. (It's hard to see mine since it was clear.)

21.) Place the supply cake body on the cardboard base.
22.) Starting at the top section, cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the pencil holder. This is where the rubber bands come in handy because they help hold the ribbon in place.

23.) Place a dot of hot glue on one end of the ribbon and secure the other end to the glue.

24.) Continue to cover the rubber bands with ribbon, layering ribbon as you like.

25.) Tie bows and glue to each section where there is a ribbon band.

26.) Glue the gerber daises to the bows and add the pencils to the pencil holder.

And there you have it...your very own school supply cake! I'd love to see your creations. You can e-mail them to me at leighanne@elmore.rr.com

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Georgia Anne and Jack started school on Monday, and Daniel started today. So far everything has gone smoothly, which I am very thankful for. I am very excited for all of them because I think we are going to have a wonderful year. I am overjoyed with all of their teachers...they are a great group!

Georgie and Jack heading in to school Monday morning. Georgie was so sweet telling Jack not to be scared, that he was going to love the big school.

Waiting in the gym for the bell to ring

Outside Mrs. Yankey's classroom

The kids came in, put their things away and got straight to work! I was impressed!!

Just before his first class

Jack is so excited to have his friend Bry in his class this year

They began the day with a few puzzles while waiting on everyone to arrive.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Saturday morning a great group of Kami's friends and family showered her with a "feather the nest" baby shower at my house. It was such a fun way to celebrate the upcoming birth of Baby Girl Scarborough. Now all we need is that sweet little girl to make her appearance!!

I painted a canvas banner that we used to welcome guests to the shower. Kami can also use it to hang on the hospital door when Virginia Kate arrives. We also got a pink bow that she can use on their mailbox to let their neighbors know when she arrives.

Melissa H. made this sweet and girly pink feather wreath that Kami can put on her front door.Super cute bird nest corsage from Etsy.

I love the way the table came together! Mrs. Rit made the beautiful flower arrangements and the girls did a wonderful job on the yummy food!

Melissa J. made this adorable watermelon baby carriage. She did a great job and it was definitely a big hit!

A delicious baby bird nest cake that Mrs. Alunda contributed.

Beverly had these sweet baby bird sugar cookies made.Kami opening all of her wonderful gifts!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Summer is coming to a close....boo hoo! All three of the little kiddos go back to school next week. While we have had a great summer, I must admit I am looking forward to getting back into the groove of a daily schedule. We had open house at the elementary school and the preschool this week so the kids would get a chance to meet their new teachers. Looks like we are going to have a wonderful year!

Georgia Anne is going to be in the second grade and her teacher is Mrs. Yankey. We are very excited about her teacher and she is very excited because she has a slue of her friends in her class this year. She is a lucky little girl!

She found her desk and was so happy because she was behind Caleb and in front of Kylie. I think it is pretty safe to say that Mrs. Yankey will have to make some seating adjustments.

Jack has a big change this year. He is going to be in the preschool class at Tallassee Elementary School. We were sad for him to leave First Baptist, but this was an opportunity that we felt was a great move for him. He is so excited to go to the "big school" and keeps telling everyone he is "special because he gets to go to Sissy's school."

Jack with his two teachers, Mrs. Creel and Mrs. Collins
Jack is also lucky because Mrs. Paulette and Mrs. Kristen from church are classroom instructional assistants. They both like to love on Jack....which he LOVES!

Little D-Man is movin' on up to the 2 year old class at First Baptist. Mrs. Stephanie is his teacher and is super sweet!

I made a school supply cake for Mrs. Yankey. It was easy to make and can be taken apart and really used. It was all assembled with rubber bands, except the ribbons, which can be cut to get to the supplies.

You can go here to find step-by-step instructions on how to make your own school supply cake.

I thought I'd share with you the radio station's advertisement for the Tallassee Football Program. It's always fun trying to come up with a picture that is "catchy." I am starting to run out of ideas! Michael was glad P.J. (aka Big 'Un) made the picture this year. You can see the previous years ads here, here, and here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My sweet little Granny turned 94 a few weeks ago. WOW! Granny is truly one of the kindest, sweetest people you will ever meet. She is what everyone dreams a Granny should be. So many children don't have or know their grandparents, let alone their great-grandparents. My children are so blessed to know their Granny and love her like I did when I was little (and still do).

I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Michael, for twelve years. We have three beautiful children, Georgia Anne, Jack,and Daniel. I am an interior designer by profession, but am most proud to be a stay-at-home mom. Michael and I own and operate 1300 WTLS and 106.5FM in Tallassee as well as TallasseeTimes.com, an on-line newspaper. I hope you enjoy reading about our daily adventures!